Wenjing Xu

Wenjing is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management of the University of California, Berkeley, and the secretary of Yakalo, a Bay Area-based NGO aiming to improve intercultural understandings of human-animal-land relationships. Wenjing specializes in wildlife ecology, rangeland ecology and conservation. She is specifically interested in mobilities of humans and wildlife in pastoral rangelands and the social-ecological disturbances caused by landscape fragmentations. 

Born and raised in Hangzhou, China, Wenjing’s passion for wildlife, pastoralism and land was sparked by her experience living and working on the Tibetan plateau. During her time there, she volunteered with the Nyanpo Yurtze Environmental Protection Association, a grassroots organization founded by a group of monks aiming to preserve the culture and nature around the Nyanpo Yurtze area in Amdo Tibet. She also worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society to survey a snow leopard population and to understand human-wildlife conflicts in the Changtang Nature Reserve. This experience encouraged her to pursue a master’s degree in Geography and now a Ph.D.degree in wildlife ecology. 

Aside from research, Wenjing is passionate about science communication and non-fictional storytelling through camera lenses. She is an alumnus of the 2018 International Wildlife Film Festival Labs and the short film “Tributary” she participated in producing was screened during the festival. She is also a proud chicken mother and urban gardener, thanks to the beautiful climate and land available in NorCal where she currently lives.

Contact info@global-diversity.org to connect with Wenjing.